There were few who would have predicted Evan Ferguson and Aaron Connolly to start up front alongside each other during the course of the Under-21 European Championship qualifying campaign.
Ferguson was just 16-years-old when the campaign began whilst Connolly had been quickly promoted to the senior set-up.
Their paths would have crossed however when they were both at Brighton, Ferguson called into the first team for training purposes. Remarkably they had yet to play together at any level until Friday night.
"It was good," said Ferguson.
"I feel like we have got the relationship from training in the past, so it is good to play with him.
"I would have been in training with him before so I know the areas he likes to be in and the areas he likes to go into."
Man of the Match Aaron Connolly says he has rediscovered his love for the game and thinks Ireland will travel to Tel Aviv with lots of confidence #rtesoccer pic.twitter.com/tBYUVQNPjX
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Connolly earned the player of the match award on Friday night, whilst Ferguson came up with the headed equaliser.
It was Connolly who jinked and weaved his way to winning a corner amidst a clutter of Israeli defenders.
Tyreik Wright delivered the out-swinger which was met plumb by the forehead of Ferguson, who powered it low into the net.
"We had a few corners, so I just said I would try my best to get my head on this one. They were coming and coming, and I just wanted to get my head on one."
WHAT A LEAP
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) September 23, 2022
Evan Ferguson heads home Tyreik's Wrights's corner to level things up in Tallaght#rtesoccer
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For someone who has two more campaigns after the current one, the ceiling for Ferguson is a high one.
"We all know that Evan is a real high potential player," said his manager Jim Crawford ahead of this current international window.
"He scored a hat-trick a couple of weeks ago against Leicester in the under-23s, and the important thing about Evan is that he is very grounded. He is very mature."
Ferguson had to show his maturity as a couple of Israeli defenders thundered through the back of him early on.
Croatian referee Dario Bel seemed to refrain from awarding free kicks due to Ferguson's sheer size and physicality.
"I feel like that's how it goes sometimes. They try to test out some players, see what reaction they can get from that but we just kept going," said Ferguson.
When Frank Lampard took his Chelsea team to play Bohemians in Dalymount Park for a friendly in 2019, Ferguson was introduced as a 14-year-old, coming up against the likes of Kurt Zouma and Trevoh Chalobah.
There has been little which has fazed Ferguson in his fledgling career so far.
Getting to a major tournament would be another feather in the cap for a highly rated youngster who scored in the EFL Cup this season.
"It would mean a lot for all of us. I think everyone is here for the same reason, to get into those finals. It would be an unbelievable achievement if we did."
A second international goal at this level on Tuesday night in Israel would do nicely.
Follow Israel v Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Under-21 European Championship second-leg play-off this Tuesday (KO 6.15pm) via our liveblog on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app, or watch live on the RTÉ Player (Island of Ireland)
